Nokia offers free WiFi trial in central London Special

If you were in London on Tuesday you would have been fortunate to access WiFi Internet for free and without having to sign in or register for a code. I found it worked in and around Oxford Street, near to the Houses of Parliament and some of Regent St.

The good news is - once Nokia have studied the results of the trial they may consider turning it into a full (and still free) service. The service may eventually roll out in other major cities around the world too. It was a bit like tapping into a neighbours WiFi who had foolishly left their service open. The drawback I found was the hotspots seemed to cool as you moved away from Oxford Circus along Regent Street.

Nokia plans to add 1,000 hotspots around London in the near future, reports Wired. The news will come as a huge relief to tourists who can be forced to pay expensive roaming charges when using their devices overseas.

There is a box to tick which asks you to agree to terms and conditions the first time you use the service and the other issue I found was the connection - although unlimited - was rather slow; users being limited to speeds of 1mbps. WiFi has already been available free for customers using Macdonald’s, Pret A Manger and Wetherspoons pubs. Staff will give you the pass code upon request.

As reported in the Telegraph, the connections will work on any device including laptops and tablets. Last week Nokia launched a phone that will use the Windows Phone operating system. The company has suffered recently at the hands of the Apple iPhone and the Google Android.

Nokia's mapping technology will be offered to all devices which can be used to easier locate areas for the best reception.